The Obstacle
by Xrizz
Summary: It's Nessie's first time at high school, and things seem to be going well. That is, until Jacob meets the school heart-throb; a boy a little to perfect to be human. Who is he, and what is he hiding? Can Renesmee save herself, or will Jacob have to? R
1. Awkward

**Hey guy, I'm back with a new Twilight adventure. As you know, I'm obsessed with Jacob and Renesmee, so you can only guess what this is about. I know (depending on when you're reading this) that I have two other stories I haven't completed, but I HAD to get this story started. It would've been killing me. So let's start! **

_**Renesmee's POV**_

Ugh, high school hallways are so confusing.

It was my first time at the high school charade, only I guess this wasn't a charade for me. Yet. The school we were attending was called David Bell High. It was just on the outskirts of Forks, because the family didn't want to move far from what they called "the perfect place". Not to mention, we thought we should stay close to La Push because of the alliances with the wolf pack.

Anyway, I was making my way to my third period advanced calculus class. I was the only one who got the class at this time. Talk about lonely; I didn't even know anyone… in my class. Yeah, it's kind of awkward going to school with your parents and pretending that they're your adoptive siblings. It was also weird pretending that my grandfather is my dad.

As I walked through the hall, trying to read the inaccurate map, I bumped into something hard; and for a second, I thought it was a wall. I dropped my books, but quickly realized I was wrong when Jacob picked them up for me.

"Oh, Nessie! Crap, sorry!" he exclaimed apologetically, and grinned nervously.

"Its okay, Jake, relax." I sighed. His grin disappeared.

"Is something wrong?" he asked curiously. Yeah, asking Jake where advance calculus was not the brightest idea. I laughed to myself.

"Uh, nothing. I just can't find one of my classes." Jacob looked at me with eyes filled with curiosity, "Advance Calculus." I replied to his silent question.

He barked out a laugh, "I would tell you where that is… if I knew. But do to lack of knowledge and common sense, you can imagine why I'm not in that class." He passed me my books, and apologized once more or bumping into me before we went our separate ways.

I grumbled on my journey to find _'the Lost City of Atlantis' _which was here, called "Advanced Calculus: Room 296". Great, I found room 227; which was as close as I thought I'd get.

"Hey, are you new here?" I boy asked from behind me. It sounded a little like Jacob and Uncle Jasper combined; which was a weird combination, but it sounded nice.

I didn't look up to see who he was or what he looked like because I was so focused on trying to read the map.

"Yeah, I can't find Advanced Calculus." I replied subconsciously.

He chuckled, "Yeah, it's down the hallway; second door to the left. It's kind of like Atlantis, isn't it?"

My head shot up as I turned to face him, but only caught a glimpse from behind as he walked back the other way. Weird; but he was helpful. I finally found the classroom, and took a seat at an empty table. Today was going awkward; sitting beside someone I didn't know.

Finally I heart a thump in the chair beside me._ Fantastic. _

"Hey, fancy meeting you here, Newbie," The person joked. Wait… that voice was from the hallway!

I looked over at him and realized he didn't look half bad; at least if you were talking to him face to face. Actually… he was pretty cute!

The boy had olive toned skin which looked like it radiated. But it was his face that intrigued me. He had such sharp features; it nearly looked like it had been drawn with a ruler. Stretching from his eyes to his jaw were two parallel tattoos, sort of spiraling down. It was an interesting design. His hair contrasted his skin; being a silver (no, not platinum blonde) with a hint of blue side sweep. It was quite short and spiked over, but he had side bangs. I'd never seen someone with such a hair colour, but I immediately realized that he must have dyed it.

When I looked at his eyes, I nearly gasped. I mean, I was used to being around cool eyes; such as yellow and red, but _this _was a new addition. It gave a new definition to the word 'dazzle'. Mom was _totally _off! His eyes were a type of mix I'd never seen before. They were dark blue with hints of purple in them, as well as a bright orange swirl that started at the pupil and ended at the edge of the iris. I swear I saw them sparkling. He'd looked like he'd popped out of a book!

"No, they're not contacts." He replied to the question I was about to ask myself. "By the way, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. The name's Zeff."

I shook his hand and tried to snap out of my fairytale land.

"Zeff?" I asked curiously, it was an odd name, but look whose talking.

"Yeah, it's short for Zeffan. Weird, I know, right?" Okay, he was creeping me out now. How did he know what I was thinking? I mean, I know about the whole mind reading thing, but… it just seemed wrong…

"Well, I can't complain." I replied, "My name's Renesmee. But for the sake of humanity, call me Nessie." He laughed a little, but everything went silent as the teacher walked in. _Great. _Just as I was making a friend.

During class, I got a bit distracted for a minute. I realized that this guy smelled like a meadow. Almost like he was wearing cologne. Odd.

The class went by slowly, but as soon as the bell rang, I rushed to get a good table in the cafeteria. Seemed Aunt Alice, Uncle Jasper and Jacob beat me to it. I had no other non-awkward friends to hang out with, so I headed for their table. As soon as I entered the caf, Uncle Jazz slapped a huge grin on his face and whispered to Alice which I assumed was about this morning and how I was feeling.

I sighed and sat down as he burst into fits of laughter. Alice giggled too, but tapped Jasper on the shoulder to make him stop. He still had the grin on his face, and so did Alice. 'Thank you,' I mouthed to her.

Jacob looked questioningly between us and said hi while trying to finish the sandwich.

"Jeez, going for a new record?" I asked sarcastically.

He finished and replied with, "Yup. And _now _I'm gonna get seconds. Want anything?"

"No," I replied. I didn't really feel like eating. Maybe I'd hunt after school or something.

"Well too bad, I'm getting you something anyway." He replied laughing. Before he went up, he asked Jasper, "Hey, I found a fresh supply of nerds in the back, want any?"

"Hm, sounds appealing, but I'll have to pass, smart one." He replied sarcastically.

"Fine, your loss. There's a limited supply, and I get hungry. How 'bout you Fortune Cookie?" Jacob teased. He doesn't even hunt anyway. His form of hunting is trying to find the last bag of chips in the cupboard.

Alice smiled and shook her head, "I think I'll pass." Jacob shrugged and moved to the line.

"So, what was his name?" Alice asked enthusiastically. I rolled my eyes.

"Zeff. And I don't like him… _Jasper._" I glared at him, "But he _was_ good looking."

"Who's good looking?" I heard my father's voice from directly behind me. I jumped in my seat. He laughed and took a seat across from me with Mom. Just as that happened, Jake came back, carrying a tray-full of food. Jeez, how much could that boy eat? It turned out to be a lot.

Jake took the seat beside me and handed me a blueberry muffin. I sighed.

"Sorry, they don't sell blood-berry muffins here." He teased again. He was in a good mood. Besides, I liked blueberry. I smiled and started nibbling outside the edges.

"Hello chaps!" Uncle Emmett said in the worst imitation of a British accent possible, followed by Aunt Rose.

They sat on our side of the table, with Emmett beside me. _Wonderful. _Alice was whispering the latest "gossip" to Rosalie, who then spilled it to Emmett. This was the death of me. Emmett, like the rest of the group, started bursting into hysterical bits of laughter. Karma got him and fell backwards. It was my turn to laugh.

"Why is everybody keeping secrets from me?" Jake whined. "Anyway, so what's my fortune today?" he asked Alice.

"Haha, hilarious." Alice replied, "I predict you will trip in the near future."

"Whatever. Well, anyway, I gotta go to my locker. If I'm late for class again… yeah, that'll be the death of me." He got up and started walking; that is, until uncle Em stuck out his foot. Jacob tripped.

"Hey, I said 'Near Future'" Alice replied. She gave Emmett a high five and Rosalie started giggling like mad.

Jacob quickly got off the floor grumbling and wiped himself off. "Well, anyway, see ya later," Jacob said to me, obviously trying to avoid Emmett as he gave me a kiss on the forehead.

Jacob headed toward the door, but bumped into the approaching figure; Zeff.

"Hey, Nessie-" Zeff started, holding a notebook. He and Jacob glared at each other for a second. Crap.

"You Newbie," he started as Jacob stood in his tracks, "You forgot this at Atlantis. The divers found it. The very first treasure: Math questions." He smiled, and handed me the notebook.

"Thanks," I giggled.

Zeff walked off to a table and started talking with his friends. The table's atmosphere seemed serious.

"I'm not sure." My father replied to someone's mental question. His eyes narrowed. "It doesn't seem like it." Jacob nodded and continued walking. Zeff glared at him with curiosity and hate. Odd.

It was getting awkward at our table, so I got up and headed for my locker.

'_What was that all about?' _I asked myself. I gathered my books and headed for English.

I'd ask Dad about it later.


	2. Irony

**Alright, sorry, I haven't had access to a computer for a while. Anyway, enjoy!**

_**Jacob's POV**_

I grumbled and wiped the dirt off as I picked myself off the floor. I glared at Emmett and gave Nessie a kiss on the forehead. "Well, anyway, see ya later." I said and started walking to my next class.

"Hey Nessie-" a figure called before I bumped into it. I shook my head and took a look at it.

He was a boy, about 16 or 17, with weird white and blue hair. His eyes were a mix of colours, but it was his smell that interested me. Yeah, I know it sounds creepy, but it was. In this school, most of the kids (not including the Cullen's) had a similar smell. But this kid caught me off guard.

He smelled like... like a forest. It could have just been some cologne; no, perfume, but He didn't seem to have any of the familiar smell I was used to in this school. A thought struck me; something that I never would have thought of about 8 or 9 years ago.

What if... what if it wasn't some fruity _cologne_? What if it was a natural smell? I would have said "impossible", but by now, I would know that nothing is... So what if he wasn't human? He wasn't a vampire or werewolf, but he sure as hell wasn't human. And if he wasn't human, what the _hell _did he want with Nessie!?

"You Newbie," the kid laughed, "You forgot this at Atlantis. The very first treasure: Math questions." He smiled a full smile of perfect teeth. _Fantastic. _He handed her a notebook.

"Thanks," Nessie giggled. She didn't even realize the pink blush creeping up her face.

'_He's not human... he can't be... Edward, do you think...'_

"I'm not sure," He replied aloud, "It doesn't seem like it."

Nessie looked between us and then went back to doing the usual _nothing. _Okay, so maybe she looked down, remembered the notebook and started blushing again.

I got my stuff from the locker and headed for my next class: Art. Sure, I wasn't the best, but I got better marks in this class than most of my other ones. My dad taught me a few Quileute techniques, so I used those to my advantage.

"Wow, you're not late!" Ms. Thomson greeted me. She was my science teacher as well, and she had threatened me with detention if I got here late. _Ooh, scary. _Considering what I'd been through, you'd think I wouldn't care, but I really hated being away from Nessie.

"Well, take a seat." She said as a bunch of other kids started walking through the doors. Then I saw her- Nessie had the same class as me!

She smiled and made her way to the seat next to me. The table was a three seater, so I briefly wondered who would sit on the other side of her during class. The class had mile-high stocks of canvases, pastels, paints and whatever else, plus a bunch of drawings already on the board (of mythical creatures, ironically).

"Hello, class. My na-" Ms. Thomson was cut off by a familiar "Sorry, I'm late."

_Shit. Not _this_ guy_ _again! _The class was pretty full, so _Pretty Boy _took the seat next to Renesmee, smiling – no, grinning. She looked between us and noticed the glares we were passing back and forth, and sighed.

"As I was saying, my name is Ms. Thomson. I'm going to be your art teacher, quite obviously. Now, I know how impatient you teenagers can get in terms of beginners skills, and I trust that you're ahead of drawing from circles and cylinders, so we're going to go straight to the fun stuff." She explained, "So you're first assignment isn't going to be _too_ hard, but it will involve a lot of creativity on your part. As you can see on the board," She pointed at the board, which had highly detailed drawings of a mermaid, unicorn, and a minotaur, "you're assignment is _obviously _going to involve mythical creatures. For example- If you swim really well, you might draw a mermaid, or if you get mad easily you would draw a minotaur. Questions?"

Nessie and I gave each other a quick glance and snickered quietly. Jeez, I thought this class was _Art, _not _Irony. _

A bunch of kids put their hands up and Ms. Thomson sighed. "Yes, Justin?"

"So... does it have to apply to who we are or what we do currently? Could it be something that applied to us when we were little?" he asked. She nodded and moved on.

"Does it have to resemble one of our traits? Can it be something we believed in?" The kid beside Nessie asked. Fruit. **(A/N: Inside joke, but if you do get it, sorry if it offends anyone)**

"I guess, but guys, honestly, I don't want to see drawings of Santa, Allah, Jesus, **(A/N: sorry if that offends anyone, again) **because They obviously not mythical creatures." She replied, "Any other questions?"

Everyone looked around and shrugged. _I guess not. _She made her way to one of the counters with a stack of paper and drawing pencils and started handing them out. The class broke out into kids talking.

"Ha, this is so ridiculously easy it should be a crime," I chuckled under my breath and Nessie laughed along.

"So I assume I know what you're drawing," she said, and rolled her eyes (a habit she picked up from Edward).

"Like Father, like Daughter," I muttered with a grin on my face. She kicked me underneath the desk. Silence filled the classroom for a minute, but then went back to the talkative atmosphere.

"Aw, snap." A girl behind us sighed. She tapped on Renesmee's back, and Nessie jumped in her seat. I barked out a laugh, which apparently, was frowned upon.

"Y-yeah?" Nessie stuttered, for what I thought were two reasons: she was still recovering from the shock the girl just gave her, and she doesn't normally talk to people she doesn't know... except for _Pretty Boy. _

"Oh, sorry" the girl nervously laughed. I flickered my eyes from Nessie to the girl. She had light brown hair, straight, to about her shoulders. She had tan skin (not as dark as mine, but tan none the less), and Emerald green eyes. Beside her sat a boy who looked pretty much like her... only a boy... quite obviously.

"Sorry," she repeated, "but do you have a sharpener? _Somebody _broke my pencil." She said, looking at the boy with a death glare. He was probably her brother.

"Uh, yeah." Renesmee replied, handing her the one from inside her pencil case. Once the girl finished sharpening, she examined the tip, then jabbed it into the boy's side. He yelped in pain.

"Seems sharp enough." The girl laughed to herself. "Thanks a bunch! Sorry for not introducing myself. The name's Amanda." She grinned. "And this is my brother, Vince." She said, jabbing a finger into his side. He held up the peace sign for a second. She pointed at Renesmee for a second. "Nessie right?" she nodded.

Amanda than looked at me, squinting her eyes. "Jared? Or... was it Justin?"

I smirked, "Jacob." I corrected her. She nodded. Nessie and Amanda engaged in conversation, followed by that Vince guy, and the kid beside Nessie. I sighed.

As the guy beside her moved to face backward, the paper on his desk slipped off his desk. I picked it up, and couldn't help but laughing. Was this guy serious?

"A fairy?" I asked myself hysterically, wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes. The conversation broke up and the turned to face me.

"It's not a fairy," He rushed out quickly, snatching the paper from my hand.

"Yeah, that's _totally_ why you drew a guy with wings, though. Although I must say," I added with the same stupid accent as Emmett used in lunch today, "Great intricacy on the wings."

"It's a pixie, _Mutt," _He snapped back at me. I sat still in my seat, my mouth hanging open. Wait, did he just call me... did he know?


	3. I'm Not Crying

**Hey guys! I just wanted to give a shout out to my friends Ashuka and Vigyan: Amanda and Vince were modeled after you guys… not in appearance, but everything else! You guys rock! **

**Renesmee's POV**

"It's a pixie, _Mutt,_" Zeff retorted. I might've gasped, but at that point, I wasn't paying attention to that. Did he… but… what?

I frantically searched for Jake's hand on the side where Zeff wouldn't see. When I found it, I asked Jacob, _'How does he know? Wait… does he know?'_

He squeezed my hand a little and sighed, "What did you call me?" Jake snarled.

"You heard me. After all, _Mutt's _have a pretty good sense of hearing_,_" Zeff retorted, slightly lifting himself from the desk. At this point, Amanda and Vince were staring at us, bewildered. A few more people began to look, but thought nothing of it, since it was a little too low to hear.

"Wanna test that theory?" Jacob said, rising as well, "but since my ears are so _sensitive,_please try not to scream so loud when I-"

"Jake," I squeaked, as I tugged on his hand. He looked down at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. He almost looked… sad.

Jake sighed, "I'm not going to fight you. Not here. Not in front of everyone," again, he looked down at me with the same expression, which then turned into a soft smile. He sat down, and I let go of his hand.

I then had an idea as to why that expression might've been on his face. When I'd tugged on his hand, I'd told him not to fight. I accidentally let my mind let out the scene from this morning, at Advanced Calculus. I thought about Zeff, and what would happen if they got into a fight.

That might've been a reasonable explanation. But Jake had no feelings for me, so why would he care? He merely just thought of me as a little sister, so why would he think of me as anymore?

'_Whatever,' _I lied to myself _'It doesn't matter anyway.' _I tried to convince myself that I didn't care, but it wasn't working. I wondered for a second, and then let it slip my mind.

"Don't you mean _you_ shouldn't scream that loud when _I _kick _your _ass?" Zeff finished one Jacob's previous sentences.

"Zeff, or whatever your name is," Jacob started, looking clearly pissed, but there was something else in his voice, and he glanced back at me again, "I said quit it. I'll deal with you later." He got his books and walked out of the class.

"Where are you going!?" Ms. Thomson demanded from behind him.

"To the Jigsaw Factory. I guess I still haven't learned my lesson." I distinctly heard a low growl in his voice and winced.

I dreaded that answer and sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amanda asked from behind me.

"We're watching all the Saw movies tonight." Vince chuckled, and then changed his tone, "It seems that guy has it pretty bad. I feel sorry for him."

"Renesmee, could you go talk some sense into him?" Ms. Thomson asked me quietly, so the others wouldn't hear. I nodded, and tried to get rid of the lump in my throat.

"Alright, see ya later!" Amanda called as I walked out of the classroom. I waved absentmindedly and headed out the door.

The hall was pretty clear at the moment, being in the middle of a period, so I broke out into a run. I got stopped by two familiar voices.

"Wait Renesmee, where are you going?" the sweet female voice called.

"J-Jacob, I need to find him," my voice cracked a little, as I passed them.

The soft male voice murmured to her, "She's feeling a bit franctic. She needs to find him. If I didn't know any better, I'd probably say her heart's feeling a bit broken at the moment. Let her go."

I current went through me, which brought me to a stop. My eyes went wide and my pulse went faster and faster, but I shook my head.

'_No. I can't think about that right now. I need to find him!'_

I continued running, and then realized he wouldn't be in the hallways. He would be outside… trembling. I shot out the doors, and felt as if I would go into a panic, since I had some of my Mom's emotions, but thankfully, also some of my Dad's self control.

After searching a little around the school, I finally found him leaning against one of the walls outside. His head shot up when he saw me.

"R-Renesmee?" he asked, as if he didn't know why I was here. "What are you… shouldn't you be…" he didn't finish his sentence.

"Jacob," I sighed in relief, "you're here!"

"Yeah," he mumbled, and I just realized he wasn't shaking. Again, he had that look on his face… and for some reason, I hated that it was there. It made more sense when he was smiling; it fit his face well.

"I'm sorry." I didn't know what I was apologizing for, but for some reason, I felt I had to.

His face twisted into a confused grimace. "What are you apologizing for? You didn't do _anything._" I slid down the wall and sat next to him.

"Please don't cry." He said when I realized he was holding me in his arms. I looked up confused at him.

"I'm not crying." I responded, wondering where he got that from.

"Yes you are," he nearly whispered, and I could've sworn I heard his voice crack, "Please don't." He wiped a tear from under my eye. I wasn't even aware of it.

**Hope you guys liked it! I'll have the next one up soon. PLEEEASSSSEEEE review!**


	4. I'm older!

**Lmfao. I'm OOBER glad that people have taken a liking to Zeff. And I'm stoked to have people try guessing on who Renesmee's gonna end up with. Don't worry though, you'll find out soon enough. Muahahaha. (Also, sorry I start my chapters a few lines earlier from where it left off)**

**Jacob's POV**

"Please don't cry." I pleaded with her, when I noticed a small tear rolling down her cheek. She looked up at me, confusion spreading across her face.

"I'm not crying." She denied. I could tell by her facial expression, the way she examined me as if I went crazy, that she actually didn't know there was a tear rolling down her face.

I held her tighter, "Yes you are," I insisted. I hated to see Nessie cry, "Please don't."

I wiped the tear away. When I looked at her eyes, it was like she'd never been crying in the first place. She looked down; her hair covering her face.

I moved a strand from her eyes, "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but I didn't know if she did, "I'm really sorry about the incident in class with that kid. I wasn't gonna fight him there, don't worry."

"I know." She assured me, and then looked around.

We were leaning against one of the school walls, pretty close to the parking lot. A lot of the spaces were filled up, but no students were around.

"Jacob," she began, "Does Zeff know?"

I swallowed. I was thinking the same thing earlier. It didn't make sense… or maybe it did. He didn't seem human himself, and if he wasn't, he would probably figure out I wasn't either. But how would he know what I was? It could have just been an insult, but why would he pick that one in particular? I would have expected _idiot _or _moron. _But instead, he said _Mutt. _

"I don't know." I said, "Or at least, I don't think I do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, confused by the last part of my response.

I contemplated whether I should tell her my theory. Would she think I was crazy, or would she agree? I didn't know if she had caught on to his scent, or noticed his eyes, or the weird tattoos on the sides of his face (which seemed a little to perfectly placed to have been done in a tattoo parlor). But if I needed to keep her safe, I figured I might as well give it a try. If she didn't believe me, then I couldn't blame her. I wasn't so sure if I even believed myself yet. All I knew was that this guy was the last person we needed to get involved with.

"Don't quote me on this, because I'm not that sure myself, but I have my suspicions about him." I started, struggling for the words. I was afraid they would come out wrong. "Something about him just isn't right. Okay, maybe a few things. I don't really know how to explain it, so I'll just blurt it out. Nessie, I don't think this guy's human."

"Oh," was all she said. I didn't really expect a reply, anyway, seeing as how crazy that sounded. But for a minute, she seemed to consider it.

She lifted her hand to my cheek, and showed me, yet again, another scene from this morning. _She was reading the school map, trying to find Advance Calculus. Someone stopped to help her out but she didn't see who it was. The scent smelled like cologne; almost like the rainforest. She later found out it was Zeff._

"Was it his scent?" she asked me. I nodded.

"And more, though. What about his eyes? They're all weird and stuff. And apparently," I recalled, reflecting on a scene she accidentally showed my in Art class, "they aren't contacts. That's impossible."

"Jacob, you know as well as I do that there's no such thing as impossible in the world we live in." she rolled her eyes.

"That's exactly my point. But what if he isn't human? In Art, he drew a fa- I mean, pixie. Not to say he is one, considering I never really believed in them, but I think all the evidence points away from human."

"Maybe, but I don't think I'm entirely sold on that idea. He acts so _human _to be anything else." The pink blush climbed up Nessie's face again.

We kept shooting ideas back and forth at each other the whole time, which seemed like an eternity. Most of it consisting the words "Not", "Human", "Impossible", and "I" "Don't" "Think" "So".

We lost track of time when I heard the bell ring. I let go of her, much to my dismay. A few kids came out the doors, since it was break.

"Hey, Nessie!" A familiar male voice called.

"Hi Vince, Amanda!" she called back and ran over to them. I got up and went toward them as well, bored out of my mind. I was surprised at how easily I was accepted into the conversation.

"Ugh. I hate Thompson. What the hell am I supposed to draw?" Vince complained.

"How about the mythical _Idiot,_" his sister recommended. He grumbled as we laughed.

"Ooh! So what are you guys drawing?" Amanda asked enthusiastically. Nessie looked at me as if to signal I go first. Probably so hers wouldn't sound so out there in comparison. I smiled to myself.

"Werewolf." I replied nonchalantly. They cocked there heads to the side in an identical motion.

"Vampire." Nessie followed. They nodded in unison.

"Just out of curiosity," I started. This question was itching me, "I know you guys are siblings, but are you twins or something?"

They both turned slightly red and looked away.

"Amanda denies it. Because apparently, since she's _'older' _she's more mature."

"That's because I _am_ older!" she countered.

"Yeah, by like, four minutes!"

"I'm still older!" **(A/N: I remember you have the same argument, A and Z)**

I laughed, realizing this is how the Cullen's fight all the time. Especially Edward and Emmett.

The conversation split up; Amanda and Nessie went one way, and Vince and I the other.

"Dude. You really hate that Zeff guy, don't you?" He asked, starting conversation. I nodded. "He's always flirting with Nessie. Even though I don't like her or anything, it kinda pisses me off, ya know? He manages to get all the girls, but he's trying extra hard with her."

My head shot up in the middle of his little rant. I sighed. Okay, maybe a small growl, but too low for him to hear. Vince noticed my facial expression.

He burst out laughing.

"You like her don't you?" he realized. I felt my face turn a shade of red, which is pretty hard for me to do.

"No," I mumbled, which was true. I didn't like her. He had no clue what I felt for her. It starts with an 'L' but it sure as hell isn't 'Like'.

"Ha, dude, I could totally see it in your eyes during Art. You kept looking back at her, especially when you were talking to Zeff. So, does she know?"

I hated those types of questions. The ones that no matter if you replied yes or no, it would still come out wrong.

"I never said I liked her," I objected.

"Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say. Well, I have to go charm some of the _ladies._" He said as he walked off toward a group of cheerleaders.

If only he knew.


	5. Yawn

_**Renesmee's POV**_

"Renesmee?" My mom called when I came down the stairs.

The thunder practically scared me awake. Was "awake" even the right word? I got about no sleep that night, and when the thunder came about, I was just about to fall asleep.

I rubbed my eyes and mumbled, "Yeah?"

"You're up early. It's five o'clock." She smiled. "Aunt Alice is going to be happy."

I nodded, but had no clue what she was talking about. I expected only the worst.

"That's not a good thing is it?" I murmured

"No, unfortunately. I think she bought a new wardrobe. And guess who's going to her new mannequin."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. And new make-up as well. I even think she bought a new straightener." She humored. I glared at her. "Oh, it won't be all that bad. On the bright side, you already know you'll look stunning."

I yawned.

"You seem extremely tired, dear. Did you get _any _sleep last night?" I shook my head.

"Why?" she asked.

I sighed, trying to think of an answer. I thought back to yesterday, when me and Amanda were talking during a break.

…

"_So," Amanda said, "I noticed that you had your eye on Zeff during art." She winked._

_I blushed, "N-no." I lied. I didn't make a convincing liar._

"_Oh please." She giggled, "Every girl _adores _him. Even some of the girls with boyfriends. He's the school heartthrob! And I think he's the only guy who ever existed that could pull of that style. That hair and those eyes- gorgeous! It almost looks natural! And oh my gosh, he's got such a nice body, too!" she ranted on and on, and my face became redder and redder._

_We passed a game of basket-ball. It was a warm, but cloudy day, so the family decided to come to school, anyway._

"_Hey, Zeff! Pass the ball!" One of the boys shouted. Instinctively, our heads turned toward the game. Shirtless… all of them shirtless. My eyes widened, which I was ashamed of. I quickly turned my head away, but was unable to keep it that way._

"_What are you doing?" Amanda screeched at me, twisting my head back toward the game. "This is a once in a life time experience! You're going to stand here and enjoy it!"_

"_But what if they see us?" My face burned, and I ached to run away. But… I did want to stay._

"_These guys get too involved in the game to care if the girls are watching. Besides, they're used to it." She answered, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world._

_We stood and watched, goo-goo eyed. I looked at Amanda, and she had the same expression on her face that Jacob had whenever he saw a new car. I turned my head back, and then I noticed it._

_Sprawled on Zeff's back was a tattoo of wings. Large, intricate wings that were completely symmetrical. Almost too perfectly drawn to be done in a tattoo parlor. They had a similar pattern as the small, spiral tattoos on the sides of his face. I stood there, wide eyed, staring at the black tattoos. They were amazing, but I briefly wondered why on earth he would consider those._

"_There's no other sight as beautiful as this, is there?" Amanda sighed._

"_The wings!" I gawked, and she laughed._

_I then decided to consider for half a second, what Jacob had said earlier._

"I don't think this guy's human."

_His eyes were an impossible mix of patterns. His hair seemed to be completely natural. And those tattoos seemed to perfect to be done in a tattoo parlor. But could I really base this on looks?_

_The thought kept running throughout the day._

…

"I don't know, Mom." I finally answered. "I guess I had a lot of things running through my head. The first day of school's hard, you know?" I semi-lied.

She sighed and smiled. "It'll get easier, don't worry."

I looked around. "Where's Dad?" I asked.

"He went hunting with your uncles. He should be back soon." She assured me. "Now, I advise you to look energized and excited."

"Why?" I asked.

"I think I hear Alice approaching." She whispered.

"Good morning!" And Alice called in her sing-songy voice as she burst through the door. She had bags – lots of them – in her hands.

"Good morning." I said, trying to sound as alive as I possibly could.

"Guess what's in these bags!" she chirped. I rolled my eyes.

"I was warned." I told her. Aunt Alice glared at my mom. She raised her hands in defense.

"Why must you be some much like Bella?" Alice groaned. "However, if I have to force you into these clothes, so be it."

She took the garments out of the bag. First, she grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans, which had buttons on the bottom to fold them up. Then she took out a magenta tank top with black swirls and circles on it. It had black net sleeves that came all the way down the arms. She also took out a pair of honey-yellow Converse high-tops.

I must have been looking at her weirdly, because she rolled her eyes and told me, "There's more to come! Put those on for now."

As I left to go back upstairs into my room, I hear Alice scoff to my mother, "What have you been teaching this girl?"

When I changed into the outfit, I noticed it was very… formfitting. But it was nice.

I walked back down the stairs and Aunt Alice was waiting.

"You are going to look fabulous by the time I'm done with you!" she exclaimed.

"She's fabulous already." My mother said.

"You know what I mean; high-fashion fabulous!"

Alice began to work with the make-up and hair, so it gave me an opportunity to think.

What if Jacob was right about Zeff? I had doubts he was, but even I knew he was worlds away from being the typical teen. Also, Jacob had spent most of his life protecting humans, so wouldn't he be able to tell the difference?

And what would I do if he was right? If Zeff wasn't human, he would probably know I'm not, either. Well, not entirely. How would I deal with that? It was all so confusing, and I hoped Jacob was wrong.

Even if he wasn't human, he wasn't vampire or werewolf, either. That much I knew. What could he be, then?

"All done!" Alice chirped. I snapped back to reality.

"Oh!" I gasped as I looked in the mirror. Just as Alice had suspected: I looked fabulous!

"You like it, riiight?" she pressed. I shook my head.

"I love it!" I squeaked. She had straightened my hair, which reached the middle of my back. She had also parted my hair to the side and trimmed me side bangs. She also put on some yellow eye shadow, which was the same yellow as the shoes, and bright pink lipstick.

"Thank you so much!" I hugged Aunt Alice.

"I _knew _you'd love it!" then she glared in my Mother's direction. "Well, there's more clothes and other things in those bags," she pointed to the table where the bags were "I went shopping and they were on sale. So wear them! And Nessie, make sure your Mom does as well. I have to go get the boys back from hunting now. See you in school!" she gave us both a kiss on the cheek and left.

"You look amazing." Said my mom. "I'm actually surprised she didn't put me through that torture. I guess I'll have to find something suitable to wear from that bag of things unholy." She smiled.

A little while later, Dad walked through the door.

"Uh, oh. It looks like Alice got to you." He sighed.

"Yep." I smiled, and then yawned.

"Tired?" he asked.

"A little." I said.

He chuckled , looked at me again and smacked himself over the head.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Nothing." He assured me, but the mumbled words I could barely understand. I could only pick out a few. "Something, something, Jacob's reaction, something."

My mother groaned.

I considered asking what they were talking about but then decided against it, figuring I would only get a "Nothing, dear."

"Alright, ready for school?" Mom asked. My father and I nodded.

It was still heavily pouring outside, so we took the car.

-

When we arrived at school, Jacob was already there waiting… yawning.

"Don't do that. It's contagious." I said, then yawned myself. He laughed.

"You look, uh, really… really beau-" the bell interrupted his stammering statement.

I blushed slightly and told him I was going to be late for class, as I ran off.

**Yeah, this is really more of a filler chapter and was only written to demonstrate Renesmee's understanding of Jacob's thought in the last chapter. Plus, I wanted to add some Alice evilness! MUAHAHAHA! I definitely need to draw that outfit up!**

'**Kay guys, I promise that there will be interesting stuff happening soon. Hopefully by the next few chapter so be patient and leave reviews! Review are the reason I write, and the more I get, the faster I write. Lubs you all! ;)**


	6. All These Mysteries

_**Jacob's POV**_

The bell rang, interrupting my sentence, and she ran off. Edward passed me and smirked. I glared back and decided to head off to my next class, considering there wasn't much to do.

It had been raining like crazy that morning, and the thunder didn't make it any better. I was tired, considering I didn't get too much sleep last night. The thunder was just too loud; it had woken me up early.

"Hey," I greeted Vince when I noticed him walking into class. It almost seemed like the weather reflected on his expression. He looked depressed and completely devastated. "What's wrong?" I asked. He sat down, but didn't reply. I changed the subject. "Where's you're sister?"

He took a deep breath. "I… I don't know." He said. "No one knows."

My eyes widened in horror. "What… do you mean!?" I demanded. I wasn't that close of friends with them, being as I just met them yesterday, but the loss felt the same as if I'd known them for years.

"She went… m-missing last night…" he struggled for the words, and began sobbing, but managed to keep the tears inside. "And… and the last th-thing I said to her was…"

"Its okay man, let it out." I encouraged. I couldn't believe my own ears. She couldn't be missing.

"That I…. I never wanted to-to see her f-face again!"

"It's okay," I whispered, even though I clearly knew otherwise, "she'll probably come home. Just wait. It'll all be alright."

"I doubt it," he sighed, calming down a little. "She was last seen with one of Zeff's friends, I think. And he's not here today, either!" he said.

"You don't think-"

"Calm yourselves, class!" Mr. DeLauro called out. Vince shook himself out immediately. "Get your History texts out."

As expected, I couldn't concentrate at all in that class. This mystery seemed so out of place. Whowhatwhenwherewhyhow!? It just didn't make any sense! I could have thought about this over and over and over again, but I still wouldn't have come up with an answer for any of this. I sighed when the bell rang.

"Hey," Nessie greeted as I was walking to my locker. "Have you seen Amanda? She wasn't in Literature this morning.

"No. Haven't seen her." I sighed again.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"No one's seen her," I started. Nessie looked wide-eyed at me like I'd gone crazy, "Vince said she went missing yesterday."

"What!?" she screeched, and then covered her mouth. She shook her head. "That's impossible."

"That's what I thought, too." I said. "Apparently, she was last seen with one of Zeff's friends or something. And he isn't here today, either."

"But… but…" she wanted to come up with an explanation for it, but she couldn't.

"I told Vince that she'd probably come home. Maybe she just needed some time alone." I tried to reason, although it was clear that wasn't the case.

"But that still doesn't explain-"

"Let's try not to worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing. Let's wait before we set off any alarms." I said. She nodded.

"You seem tired this morning," I pointed it, desperate to change the subject. She looked down.

"Y-yeah. Just a little bit." She admitted. "I was just thinking about what you said yesterday. About Zeff. You might be right." She gabbed my hand and showed me images of yesterday, of Zeff. But just his back.

"Those are… for lack of better words," I started, finding it difficult to find the right description, "exactly symmetrical."

"I know," Nessie said, and sighed a sigh of frustration, "Too symmetrical to be done in a tattoo parlor."

I grunted. "Things just get more difficult everyday." I said, "Well, anyway, what's your next class?"

"Drama." She sighed, "As if there wasn't enough already." I chuckled at the irony.

"Well, I'm off to math." I said, then fake sniffled, "Just math. Easy-for-you-to-do math." She attempted punching my shoulder, which didn't end well- for her.

"S-sorry!" I began laughing. It was almost like the time Bella attempted to hit me and broke her hand, only Nessie's hand didn't break. Brought back some memories. "Well, see you later." She agreed and I started walking toward my class.

"Hey," and then I heard _his _voice. I turned around. _He _was the only one who noticed. He glared at me, and then smirked. "What's your next class?" he asked Nessie. I stood in my tracks.

At this point I couldn't tell if she looked like a schoolgirl in front of Zac Efron, or if she looked like she was visiting a serial killer who had the key to his jail cell.

"Drama." She said. I had a feeling she wanted to say as little as possible in case her voice might crack.

He chuckled and flipped his hair like some movie star (A/N: *). "I suffer the same fate. I think we're doing improv today." They started walking. _He _gave me one last look, and then flung his arm around Renesmee's shoulder. She looked almost genuinely scared now, but her face turned red nevertheless. "By the way," he said, ignoring her expression, "You look _really _beautiful today."

My mouth hung open. I would have commented on how that's exactly what I was trying to say to her in the morning, but anyone would have said that. What was really pissing me off was his arm. I wanted to rip it off and give it to a dog as a chew toy. Ironic. On top of that, he grinned at me almost as if he knew about everything- the way things were. As if he knew about the Imprint. Which was impossible, because the only one of the Cullen's who talked to him was Renesmee, and she didn't know yet. _Yet. _

'_Note to self,' _I thought, _'Add "Tell Nessie about Imprint" on 'To Do' list.'_

"Jacob." I heard from behind me. Edward.

I yelped. _'My name is Jacob Beige… I mean Black! I live on La Pull- I mean Push!' _I thought, trying to retell my life story in my head so Edward would either get bored, or not be able to remember what I was thinking before.

"Jacob, relax." He said. And I did. When I calmed down, I realized it was Jasper, not Edward. I sighed in relief.

"Oh, sorry." I apologized. "I thought you were Edward."

"Speaking of Edward…" he said. "He just wants to let you know he almost fully supports your theory now." He walked away, and instead of feeling smug, like I normally would, I felt almost inferior. So Zeff wasn't human. He wasn't vampire.

_What was he?_

**Gah. Sorry I had this up late. I actually had this finished three days ago, but Rogers shut down my internet for a few days, so I had to wait to post it. Dun hate me.**

*** When I put "He flipped his hair like a movie star." I was soooooooo tempted to write Robert Pattinson, but for obvious reasons, that's not possible. T^T**


	7. Improv

_Renesmee's POV_

_Breath. Do not hyperventilate. _

_Attempt one, failed._

"You're not the person I believed you were!"

Improvising in front of a class full of students is _not _my thing. Neither is anything else. This whole scenario isn't my thing.

After that awkward moment in the hallway, it was only fate that I was destined to have _more _of those moments. When we arrived at drama, everyone was already paired up of course. Oh, and to top it off, the topic of improv was "trouble with relationships". I didn't really need t make anything up to create a good topic.

"But I never pretended to be anything. If you really want to know who I am, I can show you. Tonight, in the forest beside the school parking lot." He looked at me in a way that it was clear we weren't making the conversation up.

"And how should I trust you now?" I asked.

"You're hiding a few things yourself. Why don't we do a trade of information? Midnight." _Gotcha._

The bell rang, which I was thankful for. I asked myself if I was really going to go. But I had to. I had to get to the bottom of this. But how would I hide this from my Father?

I began to walk off to lunch, when someone grabbed my wrist.

"You're going to be there tonight, right?" Zeff asked.

I nodded, but I was lost for words.

"Good. You'll probably laugh. Not really." And he walked off.

I entered the cafeteria where my family was sitting and pushed drama class completely from my mind. When Jacob saw me, his face lit up, until only a few seconds later. It turned into a scowl. I looked behind me and saw Zeff. I sighed.

"Hey," I said, not quite as loud and confident as I'd hoped.

School passed a little too slowly for my tastes, and my nerves were dancing the river-dance. I wanted to die. Finally, we broke out from school, and Jacob and I decided to walk home.

"What happened?" Jacob asked, his voice sounded like he was trying to hide frustration.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw what happened in the hallway. That creep was looking at you like you were his new Barbie." He barked out a laugh, and my face turned red. I hadn't realized Jacob was still there. I thought her left for his next class.

"But seriously. What happened?" He asked. I contemplated whether I should tell him about midnight or not. I decided against it. I wouldn't be able to handle it if he got hurt because of me.

"Nothing, really." I lied, trying to sound nonchalant, but it didn't work. "Drama wasn't all that fun."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure."

The conversation stopped, except for a few comments on the weather.

I tried to be as productive as possible that evening, to keep my mind off of midnight. So when I heard that the family was going out hunting that evening, I was thrilled.

"Are you sure, you don't want to come?" My Mom asked.

"Yes Mom." I said with a stupid grin smacked on my face.

She sighed, "Jacob, do you mind staying with her, then?"

"Of course not." He said, and rolled his eyes. The family left, and my smile faded. I started getting butterflies in my stomach. Wait- no. Birds. Ostriches! I sat on the couch for what seemed like forever. I read random books, until the clock struck 11:30. I got up and headed for the door, but again, someone grabbed my wrist. Not quite as rough, though.

"Where are you going?" Jacob asked. I turned around, and instead of seeing what I expected was a pissed _Where-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-going _face, I saw a worried _Are-you-sure-you-want-to-leave _face. I pulled my wrist away from his grasp a little too quickly, and his hand dropped to his side. I decided to use today's drama class to actually learn something- I was going to improvise.

"I think a book dropped from my bag on the way here. I have to go pick it up, I'll be back in a few." _Hours. _

He nodded, to my intense surprise, but with a look that haunted his face. I couldn't exactly read it. I walked out the door. I had chills, they were multiplying. Travolta put it perfectly.

As I walked through the thick canopy of trees, and started to shuter as I heard the noises of rustling bushes. I tried to remember- This was a forest. Animals live here. But it still sent chills up my spine. When I finally arrived at the school parking lot, I saw a figure walk out of the forest opposite.

"Renesmee?" They semi-whispered. I was only Zeff. I nodded.

"Wow. You actually came!" he said. "As you've figure out right now, that's probably not a good thing." I shook my head. "Then let's get straight to it."

I opened my mouth and tried to force my voice out. "Who are you really?"

"I'm still Zeff. I've always been me. I've never really been anyone else, but I will be tonight." He said, "But first off, I know something about you. Ready for the trade off?" I nodded.

"Okay. What do you want to know first? What I know about you or what I am?" He asked.

"What do you know about me?" I asked.

"You and you're family. Plus that Jacob guy. None of you are human." I stiffened, and inhaled deeply.

"I know. What do you know?" I asked, sounding much more confident than I felt.

"It sounds sort of stupid, especially if I were to be wrong. Even thought I know I'm not." He smirked. "Vampires? I mean, just you're family. Jacob is-"

"Jacob _is _my family." I blurted out in a semi-snarl. I had no clue where it came from, but it just bursted into my mind. I heard more rustling in the bushes, but paid no attention to it.

Zeff's eyes narrowed, and then he shook his head. "And Jacob is- this is going to sound stupid too- a Shapeshifter? Or werewolf, whatever."

My eyes widened, and my knees felt weak. "How d-do you know about... about-"

"That will make sense once you find out what I am. You ready?" I didn't answer "Now promise you won't laugh, okay? Besides it doesn't sound so out of place when you're talking about vampires and werewolves." He inhaled deeply, and his eyed became more serious. He slipped off the shirt that he was wearing and turned his back toward me, once again showing the tattoos of wings on his back.

"Pixie."


	8. If I Was an Angel

_**Jacob's POV**_

He took off his shirt. I was going to punch him.

"Pixie." He said. Nessie looked at him with a look that said _you really expect me to believe that? _I wanted to burst out laughing. But being as I was hiding in the bushes, I obviously didn't want to reveal my location.

She was about to open her mouth to say something, but he burst out laughing instead. "Okay. Thank God you didn't believe that."

"How do you always-" She started, but was cut off.

"I'll explain that in a sec. First of all, I'd like to clear that I am _not _a pixie, because that would be extremely gay. Which is obviously not the case since, sorry for being forward, I've been hitting on you lately. So yes, pixie is out of the case." He smirked. Again, I was going to punch him.

Nessie turned bright red, looked away and muttered, "Who- I mean _what _are you then?"

He looked down, almost as if he was ashamed to say it. I heard him whisper something along the lines of "If I were really an angel, I wouldn't have to do this." Then he looked up at her, cleared his throat and said, "Would you believe it if I said I was a fallen angel?"

Nessie didn't speak, but she did inhale deeply and take a step back.

"Whoa, I'd be freaked if I were a human and heard you were a vamp. Ha, oh well." He said, the smirk still painting his face.

"Half vampire." She whispered. His mouth dropped open.

"That's impossible, though." He said, his eyes disbelieving.

"In my defence, your story isn't that believable either." She said, but her eyes were still on the ground.

"But how?" he said. "Both... Oh! I get it now! I thought it always looked awkward between you, Edward and Isabel- I mean Bella. And you look like both of them... but it's still impossible! Vampires can't... um... reproduce. And even if they could, you wouldn't be a half vamp, and you'd have yellow eyes. By the way, your eyes are really pretty," I was going to punch him. "And, wouldn't you still be a... baby?"

Nessie sighed. "My mother _was _human when she gave birth to me," I wanted to laugh, seeing how difficult it was to talk about that without making it look like she was disgusted. "And then to save her, my dad had to turn her into a vampire."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Now it's your turn to explain." She said, trying to get off topic.

"Okay, but you're in for a bumpy ride." He said. "I'm dead. I died when I was 17. That was around 70 years ago. Apparently, we became this," he said, gesturing to his back, "because we died a horrible death. I don't remember mine well. What I do remember was that I was in Poland when World War II started, and I couldn't get out. I was supposed to return to Italy in a few months time, but they wouldn't let me leave. I don't really remember how, but I had a Jewish friend. I think his name was Shaul. Anyway, we would sit in the place I rented and listen to the radio every day. When we heard that the Nazis were trying to create a pure Aryan race, both of us panicked. Then they started blaming the Jews. His mother was sent away somewhere. Shaul came to stay with me. We heard that they sent them away to places that were closed off from the public. I knew they were no good. All the families of the people who were sent there stopped getting letters back. Anyway, I knew they would stop at nothing to get them all rounded up. I refused to let that happen. When the Nazis started rounding our neighbourhood, I helped hide Shaul. He kept telling me not to, because I would get in trouble too, but I didn't care. What I didn't remember was they wanted a pure Aryan race, not just a race without Jews. So they started keeping an eye on me, being as I didn't have blue eyes or blonde hair. Finally, they decided to search my house, cause they thought something was up. You can guess what happened next. Shaul and I..." He stopped and there was a look of pain in his eyes that could only ever be understood by him alone. I almost felt sorry for him. He continued, "Shaul and I were sent somewhere, which we now know was an extermination camp. They sent him to a room. I know now it was a gas chamber. The last thing I heard him say before the door closed was 'Mother!' And he died with his Mother in the same room. I died alone. I don't quite remember how, but I was used for an experiment. That's why I have this scar, I think." He showed Renesmee A huge scar sprawled about his chest.

I heard an intake of breath from her, but instead of stepping back like I expected her to, she stepped forward. He was the one who stepped backward.

"Don't trust me." He said. She shook her head.

"How did you..." she said, gesturing toward him. "How does it work?"

He sighed. "Well, although I still look 17, I'm not immortal. And I don't look like I did before. My eyes and hair changed. So did my blood. I just woke up one day. I thought I was still at the camp. Then I realized that the whole place was different. I didn't know where- or who- I was. They gave me a new name. Zeffan. Everyone just called me Zeff. When I figured out my old name, I just stuck to the new one. It was Angelo. How ironic is that?" He laughed.

She looked at him expectantly, knowing he was getting off topic.

"Anyway. I found out the first time that I cut myself that my blood changed. It was black. I freaked out and asked one of the elders about it. They said it was normal. It was ink. They said it was the reason I had the tattoos on my back and face. They also said that these are the symbols that bind us here. Without them, we die. But it's not like we ca just go to a tattoo parlor and take them off. We have to go through something called the chilling. As if we weren't cold enough." He whispered the last part. "About the whole immortal thing. Yeah, we _can _live forever. But not on our own. We need... help. Are you sure you want to know the rest?"

She nodded. I shook my head. Like it mattered. He was going to say it anyway.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into." He whispered darkly. For once, I agreed with him. I wished she would agree too, and just leave. Just be safe.

"Then what _am _I getting myself into? Seeming as I'm already into it, I should know." It was semi-sarcastic, but I could hear the curiosity in her voice.

"Humans. Our life isn't _our _life. After we're made into this, we still get to keep the rest of our life, but as our years end, we need a new one. We're still the same person, but... we take other people's lives. We're killers. Monsters." Haven't I heard that one before? "So if we... sacrifice someone about 17 years old, they have about 70 years left to live. Which means we get those 70 years. Without them, we die. I'd rather die, but things are getting... complicated. I've already Chosen."

"Chosen?" Renesmee asked. She tried to sound confident, but I could hear the shakiness in her voice.

"Yeah. You know about that Imprinting thing with the werewolves, right?" he asked. I froze. I hoped to hell he didn't know. And if he did, I hoped to hell he wouldn't tell. I would do that. I could manage. I think.

She nodded.

"Yeah, well it works something like that. Only we choose our... target. The only rules are, at the time of choosing, you can only choose someone for the sake of survival. Not for revenge, not for pity, and not for self-gain. So we kill to survive." Something screamed at me from the inside. This was bad, but I didn't know what to do. Or what was happening.

She didn't seem to understand. In fact, she almost looked sorry for him.

"How..." she began, unable to find words to suit the question.

He laughed. Again, I was going to punch him. Could he not keep whatever irony he felt went along with the comment in his head for once?

"The _Kiss of Death, _if you will. It kind of sounds like we ripped off Disney, doesn't it? Yeah, well this time, Sleeping Beauty isn't waking up." He said. I started piecing everything together. If he was given a new life, he had around 70 years left to live. He died 70 years ago. It started to rain heavily. "Amanda." He said.

My eyes shot open. So did Nessie's. Her mouth opened and closed, as if she wanted to say something. He continued instead. "You noticed my friend hasn't been here as long as she hasn't been here. He was nearing the end of his years, too." _Too. _"All we can remember was that we'd seen him hanging around her a lot. One night, even for Forks, it started to rain badly. All I can remember thinking was, 'Shit.' So now he's gone... and so is she. Everyone still thinks she's missing. Does anyone ever come back? Rarely." I felt cold for the first time in a long time. Freezing. So most people, particularly teens that have gone missing around here didn't get lost...

"Don't test me." I heard her snap. It almost sounded like a snarl. My mouth gaped open in shock. So did his.

"I don't want to believe it, either. It's just the way things are. And they call us angels. If I was an angel, I wouldn't have to do this." He took a few steps toward Nessie and sighed.

'_She doesn't realize what this all means!' _I screamed at myself. _'What the hell are you waiting for? Save her!' _But I couldn't feel my legs.

I then saw realization hit her face. He took the last few steps left between them and wrapped his arms around her. I saw the fear in her eyes. And she saw mine. Still frozen, I realized that I had walked into the open sometime during my internal rants.

It all happened fast then. Zeff followed her gaze and saw me. With a quick glare in my direction, he jerked her chin so she would face him again. He closed the small distance between their lips. She tried pushing away, but that only made him aggressive and territorial.

"Get your damn hands off of her!" I snarled and a voice that barely sounded like mine. It felt as if someone else had taken over. He became more aggressive.

She shoved once more, shuddered, and went almost completely still in his arms. Their lips broke apart. She struggled to keep her eyes open.

"J-Jacob," Nessie managed to choke out. She coughed, and her eyes faltered. The only motion coming from her now was her breathing.

"You'd better believe it." I whispered to her. I don't think she heard me.

I turned back to Zeff. "Let her go. Now."

"I think _you're _the one who should let her go. It's too late." I charged at him, but a sudden wind blocked me. "I said it was too late." I couldn't understand what was happening.

The tattooed wings on his back started to glow a weird red. Then they began to lift. They peeled off his back and solidified. At the same time, I heard multiple coughs come from Renesmee. They sounded almost as if she was choking- as if she couldn't breathe. Her right hand grabbed onto her left shoulder. I began to tremble.

She was _not _going to die. Not in a million years. Literally.


	9. Love is Like Water I'd Rather Drown!

_Zeff's POV_

_Love_ is like **Water**.

When you're _in_ it, you feel so _weightless_; like every **burden** you ever had has been _lifted_ from your shoulders.

But when you **lose** that feeling, your **burdens** come back crashing down on you and you feel so much **colder** than you ever were.

________________________________________________________________________

"There's no point. Why do you keep trying?" I asked. I wondered why _I _kept trying to persuade him. I didn't want this either. But could it be such a simple emotion as jealousy? Could I feel so strongly about it that I would take her life to take his happiness away? Was I really that cold?

"Me, being as stupid and naïve as I am half the time, can tell you see the point almost as clearly as I can. I know you know why I won't let this happen." He said it like it was the answer to a riddle that would save his life. And ruin mine. "You feel."

"Feel?" I asked. How could I possible feel? "Feel what?"

"For her. You feel almost the same way I feel. _Almost._" His eyes narrowed.

"And how do you feel?" I asked. He was right.

"Don't play mind games with me. You know. You mentioned it." He accused. Yet I guess it wasn't an accusation if he was right.

"I think that's the least of your worries at the moment. But I wonder- what's it like to lose an imprint?" I smirked. The power surged through me. It was changing me- yet I couldn't tell if that was in a good way or not.

"I'll never have to think about that, will I?" He snarled. I wanted to tell him that I had an idea how to, but I stopped my breath short. I started to feel weaker. It felt like I was empty.

_**Jacob's POV **_

I talked to him, looking at her, thinking the inexperienced.

My mind drifted out of those thoughts, though. Seeing as nobody I knew had ever lost an imprint before, this seemed most unlikely to be the first time it every happened. Not when she was meant to live forever.

Then I noticed something.

He had stopped talking, and looked like he had been winded. In a normal situation, I would have laughed. Then my eyes drifted back to Renesmee. Still on the ground, she looked completely lifeless. But her chest heaved up and down; attempts to breathe. This wasn't the time to think about him. Not when my Imprint was dying. I wouldn't let that happen.

Zeff. His wings started to recede. Thinking this was possibly the best possible handicap I could get at the moment, my legs began to move in a near run- which was stopped by his voice. A cold whisper.

"Bastard. You fucking bastard." I looked questionably at him. His wings had disappeared back to the tattoos they previously were. "You're interfering with everything! You bastard!" He repeated.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm totally going to fucking leave her here dying, right!? Is that what I'm supposed to do!?" I snapped back at him. His eyes dropped.

"You're damn Imprint. It's interfering. She was meant to die, you blind bastard! Quit trying to save her! Now her life's going to waste, you ignorant idiot!" He didn't shout it, but I could almost hear it that way.

I shook. "If she was meant to die, there would be no Imprint in the first place! You wouldn't know anything about this, 'cause you never knew anything about her!" I shouted. If he _did _know who she was when he saw her, he wouldn't have Chosen her. He wouldn't have chosen to kill her. He _chose _to end her life. He fell silent. "I guess you don't fully understand me. I'm _not _letting her die; and that means if you have to kill me." '_Or Edward'_ I would have chuckled, but seeming as I really had to get to the point.

"You can't save her." He said. I was literally about to punch him, but he went on to say, "I wish you could."

"Yeah, and I wish you could shut the fuck up!" I snapped back. "I can't deal with you right now. I need to try. I'll find out how. Just… get lost." I walked toward her limp body, with no hesitation on his part, and picked her up. And I ran. He didn't do anything.

The thick barrage of green which surrounded us zipped by, and it felt like it was the fastest I'd ever ran with my human legs. I soon found myself running a familiar path, hugging Renesmee close to my chest.

"It's c-cold," her eyes fluttered open. My heart stopped for a second and I nearly stopped in my tracks. _Keep running, _I reminded myself. I smiled a little bit.

She coughed. I held her closer to my body, hoping to warm her up a little bit. "It's okay," I assured her, "We'll be in the warmth soon." But it wasn't even cold outside. Or maybe it was just me?

Nessie coughed again and shook her head. I scrambled around a little bit. Then I found it.

Cold.

Very cold.

Her left shoulder, the one farthest from me was cold. Colder than Edward's touch. Like dry ice.

I _slightly _(*A/N it's hard not to make it sound perverted. It's not.) moved the strap of her top up a little bit, and go figure, something was there. There was a tattoo of a feather on her shoulder, which was pulsing a steady red light, getting brighter and slightly brighter.

_Fuck._

_**________________________________________________________________________**_

**READ THIS WHOLE NOTE FOR A SURPRISE. Sorry this chapter was short, but I did it at my friend's place and we didn't have much time. And I know I sounded perverted with the whole strap thing, but it wasn't meant to be! There's also a lot of swearing and stuff. Sorry. And I know there wasn't a lot of action on Jacob's part. Sorry again. I'm not perfecccctttttt!**

**On a side note, (Dun, dun-dun, dun!) Here's the SURPRISE. **

**For all of you who have trouble picturing Zeff ( I know it's late, Gimme a break) I have a drawing of him on my deviant art I hope you'll like. **

**I can't post the link, sadly, Thank you Miz636 for informing me; but if you _go on DeviantArt and type in Zeffan_, there will be 2 pictures; both of which are mine. If you can't find any, try to find the user rythm-n-beats. ****It should be under newest. And if you don't see it, check under Twilight. I hope you guys like it! Oh, and could you guys be so kind as to comment? Wonderful! Thank youuu!**

**(Yeah, not much of a surprise. Shaddap.)**


	10. Sarcasm is a Bitch

_Jacob's POV_

_God Damn it!_

I ran like hell. Like hell in a snow storm. That wouldn't help anyone now. Especially not Renesmee.

It was darker than black- almost like an ink splatter that just happened to be in the design of a feather. A damn realistic one, too. Again, not something that could've _ever _been done in a tattoo parlor. The design pulsed with a red glow; one the shade of blood. It got brighter and brighter by the second.

I kept running, but I couldn't speed up. I didn't know whether that was because I was scared myself, or because I was already running the fastest I could.

"Just hang in there," I said, trying my best not to make it sound like begging, not to make it sound like she might really die; not to make it sound like a lie.

She coughed again, and started to shake uncontrollably- almost like a kid who "forgot" their coat in a blizzard.

_Not a long way to go, _I thought, _and then Edward will be able to hear my thoughts. They should be back from hunting by now._

"J-Jacob…" Renesmee stuttered. My internal babble stopped.

"You okay?" I asked. She nodded. _Liar. _

"H-how did y-you-" she coughed again and stopped talking. I knew what she was going to say, though.

"You know when you told me you dropped a book or something?" I asked. She nodded her head. Barely. "Yeah, well, you seem to have forgotten that I was holding your wrist. You showed me everything. Besides, do you think that if you didn't show me, I would have let you go? Edward would have _killed _me for letting you go out at that time- alone- just to get a book. A fake one, at that."

"Then w-why did y-you let-" but the coughs came again. _I'm regretting it now._

"I…" I chose my words carefully, but there was nothing to substitute what I was going to say, "I… don't know." I admitted. "I guess… maybe I- I needed to know…" Know _what? _Know if my suspicions were right? Would I really risk her safety for that?

"Know… if he was a threat to you." I added quietly. I don't know if she heard. "Anyway," I shook my head and spoke louder, "I wouldn't speak too much if I were you… you look like your going to cough up a lung." Or cough up your life. She took an effortful breath and closed her eyes.

I finally rounded the Cullen property. I always got nervous coming up their lawn. Either because of Blondie, Edward or Bells' over reactions. But today was completely different. I was nervous for two different reasons; (1) Was Renesmee going to make it through this? (2) Was _I _going to make it through this?

My nerves started to get just a little out of whack. My heartbeat grew faster and faster. A figure zipped around the area with lightning speed. The only clarification I had to identify the person was the scent. It was a vampire, I knew this. I could only pray that it wasn't Edward. The scent closed in slowly behind me.

The voice came in a hostile snarl; human ears would only hear the whisper, but I knew this voice and the accusations that came along with it too well.

"Jacob," The voice began. I shuddered. "_What happened to my daughter?_" The voice came in some twisted, sarcastic form of politeness. But I could hear the accusations behind it. The hidden meaning in the hidden meaning- _What did you do to my daughter?_

"Edward," I began, "Please calm down. Because I'm not. And as you can see, I don't want to go wolf-o while Nessie's like this." He sneered at my comment.

"Oh, I'm calm. Calm as anybody could possibly be. _Calm._" He snarled sarcastically. "Now please, take your dear, sweet time explaining what happened." I sighed.

Renesmee coughed again. Edward's eyes narrowed. I didn't need to be a mind reader. He walked around to face me, and held his arms out. I sighed again, and gently placed her in his waiting arms. He held her closely.

"Are you alright?" He asked Renesmee quietly. Her eyes fluttered open. There was a faint upturn of the corners of her lips. It disappeared when she noticed Edward glaring my way. She shook her head as they silently communicated. He gently put her down.

I would have laughed, had I not been concerned with her balance. She was so stubborn, like Bella. But I loved that, anyway. It was amusing! She knew she couldn't run on her own, which was the only reason she tolerated being carried by me; but she figured she should at least try to stand up.

Nessie hobbled this way and that, but after a few moments, she managed to stand up fairly straight. She breathed deeply.

"See?" She was putting in a lot of effort to speak, but she managed to. "I c-can… stand." She staggered backward, but caught herself as mine and Edward's arms shot out to spot her. She put one hand out to tell us she was okay. Our hands began to recede slowly. "I… told you. I-"

She was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. One that would bust anybody's eardrums. It took me a second to comprehend where it came from.

_Renesmee._

Her eyes shot open wider than I'd ever seen them. She grabbed onto her shoulder again, and fell to her knees.

"Renesmee!" Edward and I called. Bella's voice chimed in, literally a second later.

"What the hell happened to her!?" She screeched, zipping by us.

I watched, horrified, as Renesmee went into another fit of coughs and took her hand off her shoulder. It was blood soaked. Her left shoulder was as well. She took one last shuttering breath, and passed out.

"_Shit_." It was the only time I've ever heard Edward swear. On a normal day, I would have teased him about how polite he acted most of the time, and how he needed to cut loose, but not today. Not when I was thinking the same thing.

_She was really going to die._


	11. Confessions

**Edward' POV**

"What the hell happened to her!?" Bella demanded from my side.

"_Shit,_" I muttered- this was a rare occasion that I would.

'_She is really going to die.' _I snapped my head toward Jacob.

"No she isn't," I said. "If you even _think _she is, even for a _second_, you know who will die, Jacob. We don't have the luxury of doubt!" And he shut his mouth. And his mind.

Bella looked at me, and even though I couldn't read her mind, I could tell what she was thinking.

"I'll tell you later, Love," I said quickly. "Carlisle!" I called.

He was there within a second.

"What's wro-" His words stopped short as he saw why I called him. "What happened-"

"I'll tell you when we have time." I assured him. "But right now, we need to get her to safety."

I picked her up, and the four us ran back to the house. Well, the three of us did. Jacob walked slowly behind us, his head hung low, and he shook his head. I should have expected he would blame himself- it was natural, but to blame himself now- now, when she needed… all of us most. Ridiculous.

Renesmee groaned subconsciously, and it was then that the smell really hit me. Blood.

_No. This is my daughter. I can't!_ But a smaller voice in my head disagreed._ I want to, though._

'_Edward… please don't. Let me take her.' _Carlisle must have noticed what I didn't- he was studying the expression on my face, and through his mind, I saw the sick, twisted way my eyes watched her blood. I handed her over to Carlisle; ashamed that I couldn't even trust myself with my own daughter. But if it was to protect her, how could I decline his offer?

Bella watched me- a million questions in her eyes. I could almost hear it- I wish. Curiosity from 'Will Renesmee make it?' to 'Will you make it?' echoed through my mind.

"Yes." I accidentally replied aloud. Bella looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I wasn't sure myself.

We entered the house, and gained a bit of a train following us to the couch. Carlisle placed her down on the cushion. She took a few deep, shuttering breaths before her breathing slowed again.

A few shocked intakes of air followed by a growl informed me that Rosalie wasn't going to wait for my explanation.

"Rosalie…" I started, but of course, she didn't wait.

"Edward, what the hell did you do!?" she screeched.

"I tried to kill her. What the hell do _you _think? This is my _daughter!_" I replied.

We calmed down instantly.

"If you care so much about her, you will stop arguing and help her." Jasper said calmly. I sighed. Jacob finally entered. His eyes were glued to the floor.

"Now, _calmly _tell us what happened." He instructed. I sighed.

"Jacob's theory is right." I started, "But I don't exactly know how… this occurred. Jacob, care to fill us in?"

He had trouble finding his words… or where to start. I scanned his memory for what happened. I growled aloud.

"I'll kill him!" I promised.

"If you can beat me to it." Jacob said. And he sighed as he decided to start the story. "He said he was a 'Fallen Angel' or something like that. They come back because they die an unfair death. They look the age they are for the remainder of their life, but they aren't immortal. They have the rest of their lives to live and they start taking others. It's the… uh… kiss of death, basically. He knew she would live forever though. So he went after her."

"What else?" Alice asked.

"There isn't much else." He admitted, "Except… look, all I know is that she is going to die. Wait, Edward!" He looked at me clench my teeth and fists and continued, "he didn't get her life, though, because the Imprint interfered. An Imprint is there forever. But so is the… uh… Choice. Being Chosen insures she was meant to die. I guess the two clashed. So he didn't end up getting Nessie's life, but she's going to lose it anyway. He already took it, but he lost it. So now she is going to die for no reason."

"But there has to be a way out of this- a loop hole!" Esme said. She didn't believe it, though.

"Wait." Emmett looked as if he was thinking. If only he did that more often. "You said… uh… kiss of death, right? What if…"

"Emmett, no!" I growled. _'You didn't even let me finish the sentence, Edward. It could save Nessie's life. Just think about it.'_

"What if," he continued, "It could be reversed? Possibly… uh, kiss of _life_, versus kiss of death?" I clenched my jaw, hearing all the approving thoughts.

"From what it sounds like, they go after the opposite sex, right?" I nodded at Carlisle's observation, "Then- this is just a theory- but maybe… it can't be passed on through someone of the same gender. In a way, it's like the flu- it is caught by contact, and passed on the same way…."

They were all thinking the same thing….

"But who would…" Rosalie started, and then growled. I would thank her later for being the only one who agreed with me.

"Jacob." Bella muttered under her breath, barely detectable to anybody. His head snapped up.

"What?" he asked. It was times like this it would be useful if he was the mind reader. He actually didn't know what we were implying. Then he got it.

"Oh…. _OH._" He looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Y-you a…pprove?" He stuttered.

"No." It was a harsh snarl. He was not going to touch my daughter.

'_You know it isn't like that.' _Jacob thought, _'You know I'd do anything to save her. I don't _care _if I die so she doesn't.'_

"It's too dangerous." I could hear everyone's thoughts; and everyone heard my teeth grind.

'_If it was Bella, you'd do it, too. It's either… this… happens, or she-'_

"Fine."

**Emmett's POV**

Did Edward just say _'Fine'_? I didn't say _fine_! And if I didn't say it was okay, it _isn't._

I couldn't watch. But I had to. I could use this against him, possibly. He took a few deep breaths, and looked as if he was about to be sick. He got down on his knees and knelt down to her level. Again, he took one last breath, closed his eyes, and…

My face must have distorted to quite a ghastly level, because I noticed Bella staring at me rather than unruly sight of- well, yeah. Some things are better left unsaid.

'_Shall I dare take a glance?'_ I challenged myself. I never ignore a challenge. I looked over, hesitantly, not wanting to say some dog slobbering my niece. Fortunately, I was wrong**. **Something I would never admit unless it was for the sake of my sanity. Jesus, how could _Edward _stand this abomination?

Their lips finally broke apart. Not because he wanted to. Because he had to.

He couldn't breathe.

He keeled over, and he couldn't breathe.

"Jacob!" Bella called, and voices echoed. His name was like an alarm.

"What's wrong?" I demanded. But instead of hearing what I assumed to be Edward's answer, I got Jacob's.

"T-this is… exactly… what h-happened… with-" He was interrupted by a fit of coughs; by himself and Nessie. But she regained her breath. |Her eyes opened not a second later, and she stumbled off the couch messily. She tumbled toward Jacob with a mortified look on her face.

"W-what's happening?" She demanded. And I saw the guilt hit her eyes, but no realization. She had no idea what just happened, all she knew was something did occur. I put my arm around her to comfort her, and asked the stupidest question of all.

"Uh, he's not phasing, is he?" I asked to fill the silence that wasn't already taken up by Jacob's frantic coughs.

Carlisle shook his head, a horrified expression on his face.

"Then… what's happening to him?" She bit her lip. I squeezed her hand- not to hard, but hard enough for a reassuring gesture.

Edward looked down with a defeated expression.

"I… I'm n-not-" but he couldn't speak.

"He's trying to say he think he won't die." Edward said- key word being "think". Although he translated it for all of us, he was looking straight at Nessie.

"I won't!" Jacob somehow found the strength to deny it. And if he had the strength to do that, he could make it through this.

Nessie squeezed my hand. A flurry of emotions that I'm sure she sent out by accident surged through me.

_He'd better not, _she, apparently, thought, _I love him._


	12. Smile

**Sorry this chapter's late, but I've been working on my new story, Inside Out. (It's a RenesmeeXNahuel fic, but its more friendship than anything else. It still has RenesmeeXJacob. I beg of you, PLEASE read it [and review] because this one is gonna be hella good! Probably better than The Obstacle or Always All Ways.)**

**Alice's POV**

"What!?" I heard Emmett screech. If I hadn't already been looking, I would've thought it was Rosalie. Everybody else, to my intense surprise, was oblivious to Emmett's eruption. Except for Jasper and Rose.

Renesmee jerked away from Emmett and turned a familiar shade of bright red. It was the highlight of my day. But the red quickly disappeared when Jacob took one last cough, and passed out. (I would say "fainted", but I'm sure Jacob has his dignity in believing he's a 'man'; and according to guys, "Men do _not _faint.")

Bella gasped. "Is he okay?" she demanded.

Carlisle's response came a few seconds later, "I think," he said. Jacob's breathing started to regulate again.

We stood still for the next few minutes, occasionally breaking the silence with questions for Carlisle; ones we asked a thousand times. We were so distracted with the silence; we wouldn't have noticed much else.

"My head… is throbbing." Jacob mumbled, finally waking up. He picked himself up off the floor. I was so relieved. I looked over to Nessie, who was beaming. It seemed that I was outdone. I smiled.

"You okay?" I asked.

He nodded, weakly grinning. "I think I coughed up all seven of my lungs." He joked, "I've only got one left. Anyone here willing to become a donor? You guys don't need yours." Bella and Nessie smiled. So did I. Hell, the whole family smiled. I thought I could even see the corners of Rose's lips tugging upward.

"But why is _he_ okay now?" Rose asked. I could already guess what she was thinking. After watching Nessie suffer through all the choking, she was pretty pissed Jacob got off with just 'passing out' and getting better. It wasn't his fault, though.

"I have two theories." Carlisle explained, "First off, Jacob is-"

"Right here." He interrupted. Apparently, he didn't like to be talked about like he wasn't in the room.

"Yes. Jacob is right here." Carlisle gave in, "As I was saying, you are a werewolf, so you heal quickly. But I doubt that is the case here. Clearly, this isn't a direct physical injury, like a cut. It works from the inside. My second theory is as I said before. The first member in the chain was male. So maybe this… uh… for lack of better words, virus can only be effective through those of the opposite sex. And since Jacob is male, it's a dead end in the chain- so it won't take effect in his system. His fast rate of healing doesn't hurt either."

Bella nodded. "It makes sense. I'm just glad both of you are okay." It looked like she would burst into tears if she could. She gave both Renesmee and Jacob a hug. They looked at each other and smiled.

'_Kodak moment.' _I thought.

**I know this was a short chapter, but the next one (which is the second last) is quite long. Luv you all- I'll have it up soon.**


	13. The Obstacle

**Kay guys, this is the second last chapter in The Obstacle, and it's also the most Important. The next one is simply going to explain what happened to Zeff, but it's going to be emotional, so definitely read it. **

**Jacob's POV**

"Renesmee," I asked for the thousandth time these few days, "Why won't you speak to me?" I sat next to her on the couch, but not too close. I didn't want to invade her personal space.

She looked at me again with the same blank stare. It held no anger; it held no remorse- almost as if I was just another person passing by on a sidewalk. Edward was the only one who had any means of communication with her, and even his search inquiry was limited. He would ask if she needed anything, and she would think no. He would ask if she wanted him to get Bella, she thought no. If he asked a more detailed question, she would concentrate on not thinking too much, covering up her real thoughts with decoys.

I was concerned she wasn't speaking. What ever she felt, she was bottling it up. I feared that the cap needed to come off soon, and whatever it was she was hiding, she was shaken up about. Literally. I feared that her emotions would explode all too fast- and it wouldn't be healthy. I felt so unhelpful; almost as if I was a burden to her. She wouldn't even show anyone anything- and even if she did, they would find out much. It was horrible, not knowing how she felt, but I had to give it a try.

"Can you _show _me how you feel?" I dared to ask. Of course, Renesmee didn't move. I didn't really expect her to, but it would've been nice. She sighed; that was the most noise she made in the past few days. Then she shook her head. She was improving.

"I'm sorry," I said again, "I shouldn't have let-"

She shook her head once more with a look of agitation on her face. But beyond the agitation, I thought I could see tears welling up. She noticed, and quickly turned away, wiping them from her eyes.

"Nessie, I-"

"It isn't you, Jacob."

She talked.

Renesmee talked!

Hearing her voice again saved the last little bit of my heart I had left from jumping off the edge of a building. It was indescribable- almost as if had fallen a hundred feet and walked away from it with barely a scratch.

Only there _was _a scratch- something in her voice that didn't belong. A sort of longing, almost, coated in sadness. I loved hearing her voice, of course, but it brought me a completely different feeling to hear it filled with despair. She should never feel like that- she deserves better.

"Then what's wrong?" I asked, being as fragile as possible.

She hesitated, and I thought she was going to stop talking altogether once again. But she didn't.

"She's gone." Her eyes became the blank stare again. The only way I could possibly tell what she was feeling was by the single tear the rolled down her cheek.

"I know." I slid closer to her, and extended my arm to wipe away the out of place tear. Again, she turned around. I put my hand on my shoulder, surprised she didn't shrug it off like I expected she would. These passed few days; she wouldn't let anyone put a hand on her except for Edward (and quite frankly, even _he_ had a difficult time). "But we'll get through this." I finished. I wanted to tell her that It was going to be alright, that things would go back to normal soon- but that wasn't the case.

She didn't respond. I should've expected I could only get two sentences out of her. I was lucky, even. Yet hearing her voice even once was enough to last forever in my memory. It was all I needed. But even so, the last piece of my heart jumped, and joined all the other pieces with a nice splat.

"Come with me." I said. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, or if she would follow, but she did.

I thought of Edward coming back from hunting and not seeing us there. At first, I was a little scared of his reaction. He'd get out his verbal machine gun and shoot at me later, and I'd probably end up fighting back with diarrhea of the mouth _(*A/N: Constant talk with no information value. Unstoppable talking. Saying a lot but saying nothing at all. Speaking without thinking.) _But then, I thought, if his daughter wasn't home for once in the past few days, I managed to get her out. And if I managed to get her outside, I was probably talking to her… and she was probably talking back. He'd get the point. Besides, he knew I wouldn't let anyone hurt her.

But I let that happen once- and it would _never _let it happen again.

We found ourselves walking a familiar path- only this time, I wasn't hiding in the bushes hoping Nessie wouldn't see me. I guided her through the think brush of trees, which sheltered us from the slight rain. I could tell she started to feel uncomfortable; she walked slowly, pausing at some points, and looked around nervously once she realized where we were going. Her hand searched for mine. When she finally found it, I could confirm my theory.

'_Jacob,' _she thought, _'what are we doing here?'_

I looked back at her, unable to find the strength to smile. I squeezed her hand as we entered the small clearing, where everything happened only a few days ago. She looked around, and I could almost believe she thought Zeff would jump out at us or something. _'What happened to him, anyway?' _I asked myself.

Nessie bit her lip and sighed. She would much rather be somewhere else, I was sure. I squeezed her hand again, making sure she was still responsive and not ready to faint. We finally stopped, directly in the middle- where Zeff and Renesmee once stood, among other things. She shuddered, and looked down.

"So this is where _it _happened." I gestured toward the open space. She instinctively put two fingers to her lips. When she noticed me notice, she looked away, she flushed a bright pink and nodded. It wasn't an _'OMG! That cute guy just looked my way!' _blush (As it would have been a few days ago), it was more an _'I'm so ashamed!' _blush. She didn't have to be. What happened wasn't her fault, it was mine.

I pointed toward the Western part of the clearing, where a group of barely noticeable, large bushes were. "And that was where I was hiding." I began, "I sat back and watched it all happen. I had so much time to kick his ass, and I picked the last second- the second your life depended on. You could have died. You _would _have."

"But I didn't. Jacob you couldn't have done anything." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but I could still hear it crack.

"I could've done _so _much. You don't know how tempting it was to _kill_ him." I said it through my teeth, "But instead, I just watched. You could have-" I was interrupted put cupped her hand over my mouth to shut me up.

"Yes, Jacob. I could have died. But I _didn't._" She said, I wanted to counter, but she continued, "But if you keep blaming yourself, I will wish I _was _dead, so you could finally have a valid excuse to blame yourself. You could say you sat back and watched me _die,_ rather than sat back and watched me almost die, until you came into view and nearly kicked his ass. You could blame yourself all you wanted and I wouldn't be around to hear it. But I _am _here- and want to know something else? I'm _alive. _It's _hell _when you blame yourself, Jacob. And when you do, it feels like I _did _die." I was speechless for a minute or so, and if I had any heart left, it would jump as well. But it was all gone, so my eyes just dropped, looking at the shattered remains.

"Could… I see your shoulder?" I asked, "Let me just show you what I've done, and I'll shut up." She looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. Then, realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She nodded.

Nessie moved her left sleeve up and turned around, revealing the part of her shoulder where the feather tattoo once was. Considering it _was _gone, I wondered why I gasped so loudly. When my brain finally caught up to my eyesight, I growled quietly. Instead of the tattoo, a feather scar was etched in on her shoulder; ad although it _was _a scar, it was just as intricate as it was before. It was deep, and shimmered slightly under the moonlight. I cursed the moon, as it had never betrayed me in such a way before. I clenched my fists. It would never disappear.

"Does it hurt?" I asked through my teeth, unable to disguise the unbelievable amount of hate and disgust I had for myself. This was just as much my fault as that damned Zeff. She turned around.

"M-my shoulder?" she asked. I nodded, "It hurt before… badly. But it's only throbbing right now." She said it like it was no big deal. I reached my right arm around her to stroke the scar gently once. She winced, and I withdrew my hand. Her sleeve fell back down.

"Did _that _hurt?" I asked. She bit her lip and shook her head; her bronze curls swaying around in the moonlight. Who ever thought a sight so beautiful could be an answer to such a self-betraying question. I might have cracked a smile- she wasn't a very convincing liar.

"N-no…"

"Ness, if you downplay it, it isn't going to make things any better." I said.

"No, really, I'm alright." She insisted.

I sighed, "What can I do?" She looked at me is if I was a specimen she was studying in biology class.

"What?"

"What can I do to make it up to you?" She looked as if she was going to object again, but I continued, "I could give you anything. The whole world, the sun, or even the moon! It's right there!" I pointed to the silver orb that hung, illuminated, in the dark sky. That gave me a crazy idea, "Or maybe I could… no- I don't have the guts for that."

"Jacob, I don't need the world, the sun _or _the moon- even though you're tall enough to reach it. All I need is… you." It seemed like I could have counted to infinity- twice, before I understood what she meant. And suddenly, my crazy idea didn't seem so crazy anymore.

"I think I just got my stomach back." I said. She looked at me with curiosity wedged in her eyes.

I closed the already short distance between us in one stride and placed my arms around her small waist. Her cheeks flamed a bright crimson, and her beautiful eyes grew wide.

"J-Jacob, I-" But she didn't have time to complete her sentence. I dropped my head down, planting my mouth onto hers. She was shocked for a moment, but in a second or two, I could feel her smile against my lips, and she flung her arm around my shoulders. She kissed back. All the pieces of my heart that had jumped off the building came back to life, pulling off a _Thriller (A/N: R.I.P Michael Jackson) _and coming back to life. They moon-walked their way through me, back up to the place my heart should be.

I can _try _to describe to you how that moment felt. How's _perfect? _No. It's too cliché. Maybe… to good to be true? Definitely not, because it _was _true. Aha! I've got it!

How about… jaw dropping, heart stopping, to lie for, to die for, I'm gonna have to thank above for the only real shot I had at love; this is something I've been craving- can you give me another way to say _amazing?_

Our lips finally broke apart, much to my dismay, so we could catch our breath. Our grasp on each other turned into an embrace. I held on to her like I'd never let go again. I wouldn't.

"I don't know if you've picked this up yet, but I love you." I whispered. She nodded, and smiled. How I missed that smile.

"I love _you_," she said, "So we're even."

That reminded me- I needed to check my to-do list.

"Renesmee, there's still one more thing I need to tell you." I took a big intake of air, ready for a big explanation. She looked at me curiously, not letting go, just as I wasn't.

"What more could there be?" Nessie asked. She had no clue, "You've already given me enough to last forever."

"_You're _forever or _my _forever? Because depending on what you think," There it was, the diarrhea of the mouth, "they could be two totally different-"

"_Our_ forever, Jake."

I took another deep breath, "Remember when… um… Zeff said something like being 'Chosen' is a lot like an Imprint?" it came out in a rush, "Well… it is- except you _won't _die, and _I'm _meant to make sure you're safe." I said, throwing in words like "I" and "You" hoping she would notice them. She looked at me oddly for a second before what I said slowly clicked in. She untangled herself from my grasp, again, and just stared at me.

"He was talking about us." I said for extra measure.

"What?" I couldn't read her reaction for a few seconds, and I fear the worst- but then she cracked a bright smile. And I do mean _bright. _Brighter than the moon would ever get.

She literally jumped back into my waiting, empty arms, and I was glad she did. They just didn't feel right without her- almost as if they were made just to hold her. I didn't think it would go down _that _easily. She knew and she accepted it- with open arms (literally). That was more than I could ever ask for.

"I imprinted on you, but that isn't the only reason I love you. It just makes sure that I'm not going anywhere- unlike any _idiot _who would ever 'love' then leave you. That's because _no one_- no one out of the billions of people on this planet- will ever love you like I do. You're everything I'll ever want… or _need._"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that 'idiot' you talk about. You're the only idiot for me." She said, and then burst out laughing. I joined her. I was many things, but an idiot? Definitely. How could I ever think that she needed reassurance?

"I know this'll sound _really _cliché, Jake, but you've made me that happiest girl in… forever- and in only a few minutes! How do you-"

Again, my lips pressed against hers, cutting her sentence off, but also giving the answer to her question. And so I held her. Held her closer than humanly possible.

_Humanly._

…

_**The Obstacle-**_

_An Obstacle is the only thing- object or human- that ever stops one from achieving their greatest goals. Some (the weak ones) give up upon seeing it. Others (the risk takers) will try and try until they realize that there is absolutely no way to cross it. But the strongest (the fighters) will do anything in their might-and more- to cross this deceptive object._

_Any Obstacle can be overcome- From the smallest to the largest, the easiest to the hardest. But no matter the size, shape or form of it, it can never completely drain someone of hope. Some people seek Obstacles, while others run from them._

_If a race is run with no Obstacle at all, you will be excited once you've won. If a race is run, but a hurdle separates you from the finish line, it may take you a few tries to jump over it. But when you do- when you cross the finish line- how much shinier will that trophy be?_

_So maybe an Obstacle is not that bad a thing. When an Obstacle is overcome, it brings the victory more meaning. You will be more proud of the win, knowing you did what you did to get to it._

_In this case, Zeff was the Obstacle, Jacob was the Fighter, and Renesmee was the Victory. And if there was no Obstacle, this would be just another cliché story- a story with only happiness. How shiny would **that **trophy be?_

_Pretty dull if you ask me._

-

**Remember- there's only one chapter left! Make sure to read it!**

**Did you think I forgot Zeff?**

**By the way, make sure you also read Inside Out, my new JacobxNessie story. If you liked this one, you'll love Inside Out. That's code for read (and more importantly, review). By they way, to anyone who previously favourited/reviewed on the story already, I had to delete it and repost it- so review again! LOL! :)  
**


	14. BitterSweet

***Just thought I`d point out that the ending is not a yaoi (for those who don`t know, `yaoi`means gay) ending. It is friendship. FRIENDSHIP.***

**The Obstacle.**

He sat back with his arms crossed behind his head, asking himself what could have possibly gone wrong. No answer. Of course there wouldn't be. It was never this easy.

After a second chance at life, it was taken away from him again. They wouldn't believe him. Not after he'd broken a rule. She'd had an advantage. But it was taken away from both of them, thanks to that damned mutt. It was his fault- his fault she'd lost her life for no reason. It could have gone to good use, but no. It didn't, because as far as he was concerned, she was dead.

There was a knock on the door.

"Zeffan, open up!" The voice behind the door commanded. Zeffan let him knock for another minute, before he picked the lock open.

"You're not going to be able to avoid this, Zeff." Gage said, shaking his head, causing his short, black and red spikes to wave around on his head. Zeff flinched, half expecting one of them to fly off his head and poke him in the eye. His green eyes searched Zeff's, looking for hesitation. The blue spirals were almost hypnotic in a sense.

"I'm not trying to avoid anything." Zeff semi-snapped, fed up with Gage's constant warnings.

To his dismay, Gage was going to be his Representative in the Council. Gage had a very good reputation for reasoning with the Council members, and getting his clients the Justice that most of them didn't even deserve. A very small number of Offenders were sentenced to Chilling with gage as their Rep. It rarely happened.

Chilling was the process in which the Council only sentenced the worst of Offenders too. The process would consist of sending said offender a chamber. The temperatures in this chamber would reach beyond the extremes. It wouldn't bother the person one bit- until they were dead. The process would freeze off the bindings—the tattoos on their backs. You could not simply go to a tattoo parlour and remove them- no. They had to be frozen off. The only thing is, without the tattoos, the Offender will die within the minute. The ink is the only thing binding them to this Earth.

The Chilling process was the only known way to kill a Fallen Angel once and for all.

And even though Gage had the best reputation for reaching a reasonable conclusion in the Council, he was still worried. Gage would constantly tell Zeff that there was a good chance he could be sentenced to Chilling, regardless of whether the "life transaction," as he liked to call it, worked out or not. He would say that they had to word everything carefully, seeming as lying was impossible. They could smell out lies- literally.

Zeff would tell Gage that it was no big deal, and that they would understand. He would shake his head, telling him not to worry. And on the days when Gage would get impatient, Zeff would recite every reason they couldn't sentence him. And Gage would tell him, _"Zeffan, they don't care if her life was taken or not. The point is, you intended to. When you saw her, you were aware that she was going to live forever. You did it for personal gain, because she had an advantage."_

"I'm not trying to avoid it." Zeff lied. Gage raised an eyebrow.

"Liar."

"I'm not lying!" he lied again. Gage rolled his eyes. "They're not going to do anything. I'm innocent."

Again, Gage shook his head. "Look, kid. Around 265 years ago, I was almost busted for feeding off a girl who led a really healthy life style. She still had quite a few years ahead of her. At the time I marked her as my prey, I had no clue. But when I was at the council, they didn't care. The point is, they are not going to go easy on you, just because it didn't work out. You'd _meant_ to feed off her, Zeff. You're in shit."

Zeff refused to believe it.

"Now hurry the hell up and get dressed. Nicely. We've got to be there soon." He gave Zeff one last look, sympathy in his eyes. "I feel sorry for you, man."

**...**

"State your name." The Council leader ordered.

"Zeffan." He sat still in the chair directly in front of them all. Gage sat right beside him and sighed.

"And your Human name?" She asked. Regardless of how harsh and strict she could be, the Council Leader was beautiful. She was among the oldest (but looking not more than 23) in their community, with long white and black hair that hung past her waist in spiralling curls. Her simple blue eyes held a hint of fear for each of the Offenders, with a red stripe that crossed through both of them. Her pale skin held an angelic quality which went perfectly with the small, black tattooed line of dots that framed down her face, from her eyes to her jaw. Overall, she was able to will the truth out of anyone who walked through the thick wooden doors.

"Angelo." Gage nudged his side, "Angelo De Rossi." The woman nodded.

"And on what count are you brought before my Council and I today?" She asked. She would be waiting for his lie.

A lump was stuck in his throat as he spoke, "I am accused of purposefully marking someone with an advantage." She nodded once more.

"I see you use the term 'accused,'" A Council member beside the woman said, "I understand that you think you are wrongfully brought under trial, yes?" Zeff nodded. No lies there. That was the truth.

"And how did this human have an advantage?" The Council Leader asked. She knew, but she wanted to make sure he would not lie, using keywords that she would look for in his statement.

"Because she wasn't human." He answered simply. She waited for more. "She had the advantage of immortality."

"What was her name?" The man asked. Zeffan sighed.

"Renesmee Cullen." He said. The man nodded.

"The Cullens." The Council leader said. "I am familiar with the name. They are vampires, am I correct?" Zeff nodded. She continued, "It is impossible to mark a vampire, let alone feed off of them. How could this event possibly have occurred?"

Zeff considered lying, to say that it wasn't possible, and that it _didn't_ happen. But she would know. He had to stick as closely to the truth as possible.

"She was not like the rest of the family. She was only part vampire. The other part was human. I believe that's how the marking was capable." He said, remembering her telling him what she was.

"Only part vampire? That isn't possible." She looked beside her for confirmation.

"That's what I thought too. But apparently she was." Zeff explained, using the silence as an advantage.

Again, the man spoke, making note of small things in his speech, "You refer to her in the past tense. Why is this?"

"She died."

"And yet you have not gained anything from it?" That was what Zeff wanted to hear. "Why?"

"The Cullen's have an alliance with the shape-shifters in their area. These shape-shifters are capable of a different type of marking, called Imprinting. It is almost as a 'love at first sight' rule, similar to ours. Only they don't have the ability to choose, and it is to protect that person- not to take their lives. His Imprint on Renesmee interfered with my marking. I had already preformed the Extraction, but his Imprint was meant for her to be alive and well. It stopped me from getting her years, but her life still drained away. To my knowledge, she has passed."

"Actually, we have gathered notes on the Cullen's as you awaited trial." The man said, again. "The girl is alive and well. It appears that they have figured out a way to stop the Extraction from completely occurring."

Zeff didn't know why, but he smiled. He smiled a giant smile. She was alive!

"However," The woman said, "You still intended on taking her life. Are you aware of our penalty for this?" Zeff almost shook his head, before Gage stood up.

"Mistress," he addressed her, "Might I just add that Chilling is unnecessary?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Explain your reasoning."

"Zeffan has been alive for 87 years. He is going to die within the next few years anyhow. I think that the chilling would be unnecessary. On a side note, I also think he cared deeply about Renesmee Cullen. He'd marked her when he did not personally know her. As time went on, he had gained a relationship with her. He was not intent on taking her life at that moment, but as we all know, if he didn't, they would both die in time, due to the connection since he already marked her. After the few years he has left, she would have died at the same time, no gain for either of them. He was reluctant." The woman nodded again.

"However, he was aware that the girl had an advantage at the time of marking, correct?"

"Uh, yes. But-"

"Then that is all we need to hear." She said, narrowing her eyes. She turned in the direction of Zeff. "Zeffan, you are hereby sentenced to Chilling."

Zeff went numb. He was dreaming. He needed to wake up. This couldn't happen... this couldn't happen! He turned his head in the direction of his Representative. He was supposed to get him justice!

Gage looked down with guilty eyes. He had failed. That rarely happened. He wanted to apologize, but was interrupted by the voice of them woman again.

"Please clear your seats. Why have one more trial to judge, and then Zeffan shall be sent to the chamber. Maine, begin to cool it, please." Zeff found it hard to get up. Gage tried helping him, but Zeff couldn't take his help. Not anymore. He got up reluctantly.

'_Why aren't I waking up?'_

They walked to the side of the room and waited. Zeff wasn't waking up. As the next person walked into the room through the thick wooden doors, Zeff knew that it was no nightmare. He was going to die.

However, one thing clouded his mind at that moment- that person look familiar. He looked about Zeffan's "age," and held some quality that made him look familiar... as if a distant memory. He'd never seen this stranger before though. Had he?

For some reason, Zeff thought that this stranger's green and orange hair shouldn't be that colour. He thought it should be a soft brown, a familiar shade to him. And longer. His black eyes look out of place with the small yellow ring that surrounded them. They should just be black. His skin tone was familiar, minus the jagged-pattered tattoos that framed his face. But why? Something was so familiar about him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And now, he never would have the chance.

"State your name." The Council leader ordered.

"My name is Xavier." The boy said. His vice struck Zeff somehow, almost at the heart.

"And your Human name?" The woman asked.

"Yerushalimsky." The boy answered. The name sounded familiar to Zeff, as if maybe it had been mentioned once. Possibly this was one of the rare but notorious trouble makers everyone within their community has heard of? No.

"Full name." The other Council member said. The boy sighed an impatient sigh. He just wanted to get this over with.

"Shaul Yerushalimsiky."

Zeff's heart went still. Shaul? No- it couldn't be! He was gone! It had taken Zeff so many years to get over that fact... he couldn't be back. He just couldn't. It wasn't him. He couldn't be. Could he? Zeff lost all feeling.

"On what count are you brought before my Council and I?" The woman asked.

"I am brought upon you for acting with intent of revenge." He didn't cover it up. He was honest- just like Shaul was. But no, he wasn't! Zeff had to remember that. Shaul was gone. This boy just coincidentally looked, acted and talked like him. And he had the same name. But it wasn't possible.

"And why have you committed this felony?" She asked. He looked away.

"In my passed life, I was of Jewish descent. My mother was taken into a concentration camp, whom I found out later was soon transferred into an extermination camp. My friend had understood what I was going through; he was not Aryan himself. He took my in when I needed shelter, but as soon as the Nazi party started rounding the neighbourhood, his ethnicity was used against him as permit to search his apartment. I could not remain inconspicuous to their efforts. Once they had located me, my friend and I were sent straight the extermination sector within the Aschwitz-Birkenau camp. I was sent to a gas chamber as my friend was wheeled away into their experimental room. As they shut the door, I realized that this was the camp my mother was transferred to.

When I awoke to my second chance at life, my first intent was to get my revenge on those who have murdered my Mother and friend. So I did."

The Council leader nodded, but the other Council member spoke up.

"Your Mother's name was...?"

"Sarah."

"And what was your friend's name?"

"Angelo."

The woman's eyes flitted toward Zeffan. Could there be a connection?

"Boy," she addressed Zeff. Xavier's eyes followed her gaze. As he saw the boy she was addressing, his heart stopped as well. Why did he look so familiar? He looked a lot like his former friend.

"Yes?" Replied Zeff. Again, another stop of Xavier's heart. His voice was hard but clear; much like Angelo's used to be.

"How were you killed?" she asked. Zeffan looked down, trying to remember.

"Excuse me if I do not state things clearly. It has been a while." He said. "My story is similar to Xavier's. In fact, it's the same. But I do not think-"

"What was your friend's name?" The man asked. Zeff blinked.

"Shaul. But-"

"Your previous name was Angelo, correct?"

"Yes, but again-"

The woman leaned back into her chair, something related to a smile on her face. It was tainted however. Xavier's eyes went wide in realization. It was Angelo. Angelo!

And that's when Zeffan... no, _Angelo _saw the stranger's truth. He was not Xavier. He was _Shaul. _His long lost friend. He was alive! For now. Zeff could feel a stinging in his eyes.

_Shaul_.

"How did you get your revenge on those who have harmed your loved ones, Xavier?" The woman said, a little bit more softly.

"I took the years of their descendants." He answered simply, but his eyes were still on Angelo. "I was fully aware of the rules at the time I committed the act. I am aware that I deserve the punishment I am about to receive. My work here is done. My second chance was used in a positive way, at least in _my_ context."

The woman nodded again. She apprieciated his honesty, but since he was being honest, she also knew that he was right, and that he deserved his punishment.

"Xavier, you are hereby sentenced to Chilling." Her voice rang. Shaul got up and walked over to the side of the room that Angelo was on. About to say the words, he was interrupted by the voice of the man.

"Xavier shall go first. Order goes by the degree of Offence." Shaul looked at Angelo one last time, before stepping into the chamber. No... It wasn't going to end like this- not again!

"Mistress, I know I am in no position to make a request," he said, she looked as if she were about to say something, but Angelo didn't have the time to hear it. "In our past life, Xavier and I had a connection. We died separately, only getting one last view of each other before he stepped into a chamber very similar to the one here, and I was taken away. We were given a second chance at life because we both died an incomplete death. This scenario, 70 years ago, was the feeling of emptiness. The reason we were brought back. We died without each other- and we were all we had. I have not seen my friend in those 70 years. Again, I know I'm in no position to speak, but could I please just have one favour? Could we die together this time around?"

She was taken aback by his request, and a few seconds later, the man spoke.

"Mistress, I do not believe this request would cause any harm. It would also make things go by much faster. What he says is true- they were given a second chance because of this. They at least deserve to spend their final minute together."

The woman sighed. "Very well." She said, "Zeffan, you may proceed to the chamber."

Angelo walked with a lighter heart to the chamber, happy to be dying this time. Right before the door closed, and all light was lost, Angelo could see Shaul smile. And Angelo smiled too.

"Shaul," he whispered, because he couldn't do anything else.

"Angelo," Shaul whispered back. Although they couldn't see each other, they walked into each other's arms.

"I thought you were gone forever." Angelo said. It was getting difficult to breath.

"Yes. Same here." It was silent for a few seconds more.

"If only I'd known you were still here, Shaul!" Angelo said as he released his grasp. Shaul nodded, and felt that Angelo would know, regardless of the blackness of the chamber.

"Just one more day would have been enough." Shaul said. And for some odd reason, they both laughed.

They laughed because it was ironic that they were in this situation again. It was ironic that this time, _they _were the ones killing people. It was ironic that after a second chance because of this very reason, they were thrown right back into this situation. And it was ironic that they had never known each other as _Xavier _and _Zeffan_, but only "_My dead friend, Shaul_." And "_My dead friend, Angelo_." It was ironic that they were crying happy tears, when they were supposed to be said ones. The ink streamed down their faces, and even though they couldn't see one another, they were aware of it. They stepped into one another's arms for the last time.

"I'll miss you." Shaul said.

"I love you." Angelo said.

One last tear fell, and everything went black.

**The End.**


End file.
